Washington Huskies blown out in opener – 3 takeaways
Herb Nightengale
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The Washington Huskies opened 2020-21 against one of the best teams in the country. The young Huskies were over their head in an 86-52 loss.
After canceling their first three contests, the Washington Huskies were finally able to play a basketball game. On Sunday afternoon, in Las Vegas, the Baylor Bears. Baylor showed why they deserved their number two rank in the polls by beating Mike Hopkins‘ young team.
Here are our three takeaways from the 86-52 loss.
1. Slow Start
One of Washington’s big issues in Mike Hopkins‘ first three seasons was getting out of the gate strong. The opening game of his fourth year wasn’t any different. After an early 10-5 advantage, Baylor went on a 15-0 run to extend the lead out to 25-5, around the half-way mark of the first half.
The Huskies got back to a reasonable deficit before halftime, closing the gap to 36-24. Baylor jumped out again in the second half, going on a 12-3. They never looked back.
2. Need a go-to guy
The Washington Huskies didn’t shoot well from the field. They were 36.5 percent from the floor (19 of 52), including an awful 20.8 percent (5 of 24) from behind the arc.
Guard Raequan Battle came off the bench to lead UW with 10 points. He was the only Husky to score in double digits. The trouble with the Washington Huskies offense is they don’t have a go-to player on this team. It could take several games to figure out who the player is.
3. Out-Boarded
This is where the Baylor Bears had their biggest advantage. Last year the Huskies had Isaiah Stewart to grab rebounds. This year Washington lacks that kind of glass cleaner. It was obvious by Baylor’s 50-19 rebounding dominance.
On the offensive glass, Baylor outrebounded the Huskies 21-5, which led to a 67-52 difference in total shots. Nate Roberts led Huskies with five boards while Baylor’s Mark Vital had 15. Poor shooting and weak rebounding is not a recipe for success.
The Washington Huskies take on Utah in the opening game of the Pac-12 play this Thursday. Utah hasn’t played a game as of yet, so UW, with one game under its belt, has a small advantage even though this game takes place in Salt Lake City. Go Dawgs!!